The Isle in the Silver Sea is an epic romantasy standalone novel, written by Tasha Suri, published by Orbit Books. A fairytale, equally tragic as beautiful, full of queerness, that examines the own value of stories and libraries, set in a Britain fueled by the stories, an endlessly re-birthed land that depends on the tales to continue existing as it is, which also helps to reflect and create a powerful idea around how is the own people the ones that made the land, independently of their origins.

Simran and Vina are incarnates, reincarnations trapped in the Tale of the Knight and the Witch, fated to fall in love and doom each other life after life, feeding the eternal Island in the process; but the tale starts to play out in a time of changes. Someone is killing incarnates before their tale happens, causing those to vanish, taking parts of the island in the process; our characters are not only forced to start a quest partly fuelled by the assassin, but also looking how to break the eternal cycle and avoid the tragedy, escaping fate and putting in motion more gears of the Eternal Island.

A plot that still has more depth, as Suri elegantly weaves many elements from the Arthurian mythos, delivering a compelling story that is not devoid of epic aspects. Our main characters play their roles to a perfect degree of imperfection; the doomed aspect of their relationship from the start clashes with the stubbornness of both characters. The yearning is exquisite, and the passion between our two characters could be felt while reading; the romance is integral, but we are still reading fantasy.
While the rest of the cast is overshadowed by the strength of Vina and Simran, they still have space to shine, with a special mention to Hari and Galath, who eventually become key actors in the story.

The worldbuilding is quite imaginative, with a base that drinks from the Arthuriana, with a well-thought magic system around the limni ink; but it's between the lines where this novel really shines. This alternative Britain serves as the scenario where Suri can examine a theme as immigration and the concept of belonging while also creating a contraposition with the immutability of tradition; at the end, this tale is a powerful argument of how a land is the product of the people that inhabits it, independently of their origin, as their differences contribute to enrich the place.
The pacing is excellent, slow at the start but progressively accelerating as more things are set in motion, carrying us to the ending this story deserved.

The Isle in the Silver Sea is an excellent epic romantasy novel, a story about breaking the cycle and power of tales; if you are looking to read queer fantasy that plays with the lady knight theme and that encloses a bigger message behind its lines, Tasha Suri has you covered.